Worse than a Chameleon Arch
by Lady Knight of Spades
Summary: *Fem!Eleven/River, one-shot, AU* The Doctor and River are in a bad, bad situation. *Rated T to be safe, hopefully the genres are good.*


**A/N: If that last one was a monster than this is a bloody nightmare! I should avoid prompts from now on. If I need to up the rating from T to M, tell me. Oh god, it hurt writing this. . .**

**Also, the meaning behind the title is that the Doctor was in pain when using the Chameleon Arch. But this is worse for her because she nearly died and it was her own wife causing the screams. A Chameleon Arch wouldn't have been as bad.**

**Disclaimer: Sometimes I think I'm as heartless as Moffat. But I'm also not him and therefore, do not own Who.**

* * *

It was supposed to be one of their usual days. Travel to an unknown, or lesser known planet, get into a bit of trouble, steal something (River's part of their adventure), then head back into the TARDIS and go home to their countryside house on Earth.

But not this time. This time they had gotten trapped. Breaking out of the cell was no problem. Breaking free from the chains that tied them together was a bit more difficult, but River managed to get them out.

It was fighting their assailants that was the more dangerous.

What was supposed to be a simple in/out trip turned into a fight for their lives, with River killing those that attacked them and getting her and the Doctor away from them was not a problem.

Finding themselves in a wasteland was.

And finding that the madwoman (who was without her box, which was not a good thing at all) had several gashes and what appeared to be a few lash marks on her back (River only noticed in the first place from the Doctor's grimace, how the back of her tweed was much darker than usual, and the tears in the back of the jacket) was possibly the worst thing possible.

Despite the protests falling painfully from her lips, River carefully picked her wife up and carried her away from the fortress they were in and hopefully to safety.

* * *

By the time she had found a small, thankfully not wrecked house for them to stay in, the Doctor had grown deathly pale, her blood now staining River from where her arm had supported the woman's back.

"Alright sweetie, let's set you down right here. . ." River said, setting the Doctor on her side so her injuries wouldn't be bothered by the mattress she was resting on.

"I'm going to have you sit up now. . ."

She carefully helped her wife sit up, then hurriedly removed the remains of her tweed.

It was worse underneath the jacket, the back of the Doctor's shirt nothing but shreds, her skin soaked with her own blood, the flesh torn up greatly, each slash still bleeding, the few lashes she had received the brightest red that it was even spotted through her blood.

River placed a hand over her mouth to hush a sob that was rising in her throat , tears stinging her eyes.

"It's bad, isn't it," the Doctor stated, her voice weak and faint. Her hearts weren't beating as fast, the blood loss was making her weak. She could feel the regeneration energy practically screaming, wanting to restore the Time Lady.

But she wasn't ready to die.

"River. Ignore how loudly I'll scream. You have to patch me up. Please. . ." She looked over her shoulder at the woman she loved with both her hearts. She didn't want to risk regenerating into someone who wouldn't love her. All her lives were so different. She wanted to always love River.

"Theta. . ."

"Do it! I'm not going to die, I refuse to regenerate!"

It was that brief moment that she was the Oncoming Storm. It was all it took to have River hurry off to find something to try and stick her wife with.

As luck would have it, she found a needle and thread. Whoever lived here before the planet became a desolate wasteland clearly enjoyed sewing. River then grabbed as many sheets as she could.

She'd tear them up into strips to use as bandaging.

* * *

"Shirt. Off. I can't work with the remains of a once good top entering my sight."

The Doctor did as she was told, hissing in pain every so often if the fabric tugged at a wound. It was plastered to her skin from the blood and it hurt horribly.

River, at any other time, would be thirlled that the Doctor was taking her top off. But her eyes fell to a scar on her left side, dangerously close to her hip.

That was the first time she couldn't stop someone from hurting her Doctor.

Her eyes then drifted to the few scars the Doctor still had on her arms from her days of self-mutilation.

That was when she couldn't protect the Doctor from her own self.

River finally situated herself behind the other woman, staring at the full damage caused to her love.

Taking a deep breath, she began to stitch the wounds closed. But the moment she had started, a horrifying sound reached her ears.

The Doctor's screams. They were so loud, so full of pain.

But River continued her work, tuning out her wife's screams, sobs, and pleas to stop.

The Doctor gave her a job, and, as the Doctor's wife and friend, she would do as she was told.

* * *

She would have nightmares about those screams.

* * *

Hours passed. The Doctor's back was finally stocked up, her entire upper body wrapped in the make-shift gauze from the ripped up sheets. The tweed, though complete ruined and caked with blood, was once again worn by the Doctor.

If anything it served as a blanket.

River was laying on the mattress, the Doctor resting ontop of her. Quite the reversal, really.

Her Doctor's breathing was faint, but even as she remained asleep, the pain having caused her to pass out right when the stitching was complete.

River was careful with her, knowing not to disturb the wounds as they now began a natural healing process.

She just wished she could have done something about the lash marks.

"I'm sorry, my love. . ." she finally said, her first words since stitching up her wife.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm fine now," was the unexpected reply.

The Doctor smiled at her before resting her head on River's shoulder once more, refusing to budge from her place.

"My Doctor. . ." She grinned, closing her eyes and allowing sleep to take her as well.


End file.
